NSDAR Mission

History of the William Winchester Chapter, NSDAR

The chapter is named for William Winchester, colonial proprietor of the town of Westminster, Maryland.

William was born in London, England, in the borough of Westminster on December 22, 1711. He came to the colonies as an indentured servant and arrived in Annapolis, Maryland, on March 6, 1731, on the Ship Hume. William served as an overseer on a plantation in Back River Upper Hundred, north of Baltimore Town. He was only indentured for five years but continued to be in the employ of the plantation owner after his indentured servitude was over.

William moved to northern Baltimore County once the wagon road opened, now Maryland Route 30, and made a warrant on 50 acres called Winchester’s Lott in 1744. On July 22, 1747, William married Lydia Richards. Between 1744 and 1764 Winchester acquired via patent 2,128 acres in Baltimore and Frederick Counties (now Carroll County) and then acquired wealth by selling large portions of that land.

On July 19, 1754, Winchester purchased a 167-acre tract of land called White's Level and lived with his family in the house, located at what is now 111 Stoner Avenue; currently the Kate Pearl Tea Room. In 1764 he laid out 16 acres of the northern end of the land, located on the main road to Baltimore, and named it Westminster. The first deed of sale for an individual lot was dated October 10, 1765. The Town went by two names interchangeably Westminster and Winchester Town until the town was incorporated as Westminster in 1819 by an act of the Maryland General Assembly.

In 1758 Winchester was a member of the Maryland militia and served as company clerk. In 1774, he gave money to assist the Town of Bostin via subscription. In November of 1774, William Winchester was elected as a committee member for a session of the Continental Congress that met at the Courthouse in Frederick City, Maryland. In January 1775 he was made a member of the Committee of Observation. Too old to fight, he contributed guns and ammunition to the Revolutionary War effort while three of his sons served. After the war started, he donated land at the end of Church Street for a site to be used as a meetinghouse.

William Winchester died September 2, 1790, at seventy-eight years old. He and his wife Lydia, who died in 1809, are buried in the area surrounding the meetinghouse which is now known as the Westminster Cemetery.

Information was taken from the book William Winchester 1711-1790 by Emma Shelton, published by The Historical Society of Carroll County, Westminster, Maryland in 1993.